Engine is back together and running great. I got an exchange head from Markus Blaszak (very knowledgable and helpful resourse by the way) and went with a widefire head gasket. I did all the work myself and the car has never been smoother. I also resealed the oil cooler housing while in there. I left the LR Boost Enhancer off for now.

As I worked on it I could tell the head was off before - check out the valve marks on #1 piston. T-belt no doubt. Strange symbology stamped into the piston as well - I swear one looks like a dollar ($) sign!

Question: I included a pic of one of the pistons with some small "C" shaped marks. Could this have been detonation?

Need to thank Tom McGuinness for his very acurate, clear and helpful write up on turbo head gasket replacement. Thanks, Tom.

Thanks to all that lent their expertise.

Looking forward to a good summer now!

 

Nice work!! Glad to hear you are back on the road. Stop by Toronto some time.

 

^ +1 om Marcus - great guy, and really know these cars.

 

Yep, Markus is a good resourse.

The curved mark is where a valve hit your piston. Don't worry about it, not a problem....just don't let it happen again!

 

Thought I'd send along a couple of pics of the completed engine bay.

 

^Looks great!

 

Wow! That's clean! Good job!

 

Excellent work mate

 

very nice but iam jealous. Just starting to research and start rebuilding my 89 turbo. Third used motor and now time to rebuild one right . Hope it runs again and looks as good as yours.